State pension back pay worth £6,550 to be granted to thousands of retirees by the end of 2023

The DWP also confirmed that the planned end date for the State Pension LEAP (Legal Entitlements Administrative Practice) exercise remains on schedule to be finished by the end of 2024.

An estimated 165,000 retirees have been underpaid £1.2billion due to historical official errors.

Another 210,000 people have been underpaid a further £1.3billion following historical issues relating to Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP).

Those affected include women who received Child Benefit before 2000 and whose National Insurance record was not updated to reflect periods of HRP they were entitled to.

In the latest report, DWP said: “As stated in last year’s Annual Report and Accounts, we are on track to complete the exercise for the customer groups Cat BL and Cat D by the end of 2023.

“We expect to see a continued increase in clearance rates in 2023-24, as additional resources join the exercise and complete their training and additional rounds of automation are completed in Summer 2023.”

The State Pension LEAP exercise has been launched to identify where State Pension underpayments may have occurred.

Groups affected include: category BL (Cat BL) - people who are married or in a civil partnership who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016 and should be entitled to a Category BL uplift based on their partner’s National Insurance contributions.

Missed conversions - people who have been widowed and their State Pension was not increased to include any amounts they are entitled to inherit from their late husband, wife or civil partner.

Category D (Cat D) - people who reach age 80 and who are getting some Basic State Pension but less than the £85.00 (in 2022-23) and may therefore, subject to satisfying the appropriate residency conditions, be entitled to Cat D State Pension of £85.00 a week.

Earlier this year, a DWP spokesperson said: “The action we are taking now will correct historical underpayments made by successive governments.

"We are fully committed to addressing these errors, not identified under previous governments, as quickly as possible.

“We have set up a dedicated team and devoted significant resources towards completing this, with further resources being allocated throughout 2023 to ensure pensioners receive the support to which they’re entitled.”